Heroes Not Zombies

BBC Radio 4’s Start the Week this week included Professor Steve Jones, the geneticist. He had something very interesting to say. (You can listen here, or download the podcast from itunes)

He was bemoaning the tendency of the media to run headlines like “Scientists discover the gene for……” and then fill in the blank with whatever physical or behavioural characteristic known to Man. He said very, very clearly that this was pretty much always hype. Even where there was a definite gene, say, for example, for bowel cancer in familial bowel cancer, it was only of relevance to members of families who had the familial pattern of bowel cancer, and meant nothing to everyone else who had bowel cancer. He pointed out that scientists have been unable to “find the gene” which determines height, despite the fact that adult height is strongly related to parental height.

Life, it turns out, is just not so simple. We cannot say, “there’s a gene for that…..” We can say “genetic factors influence……” but that’s really not the same thing at all.

John Cleese put the same point across – in my opinion more effectively, and had me laughing out loud – though I do think the way Steve Jones communicates is also strong, clear and enjoyable. Listen to the programme, and take two minutes to watch this video…..